Lance never directly talked to Nova once. He would usually just nod his head at her, and somehow she understood. It pained Nova to approach the awkward man.
'Why did you have to be the only person who uses a sword,' she agonized internally.
He stared at her with his languid light blue eyes. Nova awkwardly froze unsure what to do. He bent down to Nova's height and pushed his messy blond hair back.
"But you already know how to use a sword," his hoarse voice did not match his delicate features. Nova took a step back in surprise.
Technically, no one in the group is supposed to know Nova can use a sword. Nova began to stutter over her words, "Well I just know the basics that's all. I want to learn a technique."
Lance held his eye contact with her. "Why are you sure you want to learn mine?" He stubbornly refused to give in.
Nova began to get annoyed, "no harm in knowing." Her voice was blunt. Lance shrugged his shoulders.
"You're not wrong. Sure, I can teach you," he nodded slowly. Nova curled her hand into a fist.
'So annoying!' Nova paid close attention to Lance once she figured her body was lagging. She broke down his fighting style technique. However, she was only able to mimic around 50%. Now, she had to ask Lance for direct help.
Lance explained how he learned his technique based on a rare Art he found.
Nova asked, "Are you sure you want to tell me?" However, Lance seemed nonchalant and continued his lessons.
At first, Lance was intrigued by how quickly Nova learned. He explained the steps lazily, but she was able to perfectly execute. However, to Nova, Lance was a million times better at explaining than her father.
Nova slowly learned the series of steps in the technique. Each step built momentum and synergy for the next. The complexity increased exponentially as she progressed. As a result, Evelyn could only muster until the 5th step.
She asked Lance, "How many steps are there?"
"There is no limit" He responded like it was the dumbest question. Nova tilted her head at him.
"You're not going to explain…," she seriously debated if there was something wrong with him.
"Just use your imagination. Feel the movements and whatnot," he shrugged his shoulders.
Fuming, Nova walked away before she would explode at him. Lance rubbed his chin happily as he thought Nova understood him.
Each day, Nova practiced like her life was on the line. She feared to run into another monster as before, or even worse. However, the rest of the mission progressed very smoothly.
It was the last day of their journey. They feasted on an extra ration of meat and enjoyed light conversation. As usual, Nova did her night training routine.
She dashed through the woods searching for prey. Once she detected another life form, she jumped into a tree. From afar, she observed a green, tiny creature wobbling. Its eyes were a weird dark blue color.
It walked like it was drunk. Nova approached the weak creature openly since it was non-threatening.
"Blade slash," she threw out a crescent of yellow Est. It perfectly severed the creature's arm. However, she paused once she realized the creature did not care and continued to walk in a drunken state.
She observed the creature moving sluggishly toward something in the distance as if it was entranced. Confused, Nova decided to stalk to creature. She tailed the green monster for over an hour.
***
'Damn it, I'm going to have to return soon,' she stared at the creature angrily. 'I wasted my whole time on it'
She stepped out of the shadows to kill the creature. She slashed ruthlessly at it. Instead of her ring immediately absorbing the monster, the essence floated away. Curious, Nova followed the trail.
"What the-," in front of her a large cave-like structure appeared. She stared at the intricate designs on the outside of the building.
An ominous energy seeped out of the non-suspicious opening.
'Yea… not today,' Nova began to turn around. She had to head back anyway.
"Meow," Nero appeared in front of her. Nova was shocked. She told Nero not to come out during the journey because it was dangerous, and the group would question her.
She approached Nero calmly though. As she stretched her arms to pick him up, he jumped and placed his tiny paws on her stomach.
She didn't even realize that Nero had pushed her with unimaginable strength. She widened her eyes and tried to look for Nero, but he returned into the seal on her arm.
Nova cursed loudly as she couldn't stop herself from being thrown in. The entrance flashed a bright white as it teleported her in.
***
Nova found herself on the floor. The inside of the cave was bland like the outside.
'Space magic again?' Although the outside appeared small, the cave's tunnels were long and wide.
Nova summoned Nero and began to scold him. She ranted to him about how dangerous and unprepared she was.
"Don't look at me like that!" Nero with his big, round black eyes. He hung his head low and rubbed his body against her legs.
Nova agonized. "Fine, but you can never do this again!" There was no point in her continuing to be mad.
'First, let's get out of here,' Nova turned around, but the entrance was gone. She froze and approached the wall. It was similar to the rest of the cave's walls, thick.
She dropped her shoulders and tried to deny the fact that she was trapped.
GRAHHH
She whipped her head around and saw an enormous green creature- similar to the one she followed, but far more powerful.
"Ah, this is just horrible"